It’s the beginning of the fourth quarter and in business that means you should be planning your budget for the New Year. And whether you are a small business owner, run a medium-sized company or a big time corporation, nowadays you’d better include SEO in your budget.

Local media has become increasingly important when it comes to increasing your presence, as more and more people go to online sources for information, recommendations and reviews. Below we underscore some significant local media trends that are impacting search marketing and SEO as we know it.

Local Media Trends Shaping SEO Best Practice

Whether your business centers on lead generation from locall SEO or selling products via e-commerce, the following local media trends will influence your company in more ways than one.

• Mobile usage is growing at an incredible rate. Experts say currently that more than 70 percent of adults use mobile phones to access information, and that number will be as much as 90 percent within a year. That means 9 out of every 10 people will be using smart phones to find places to eat, shop, get repairs done, etc. So making sure that you are in the search engines that provide local information is of the utmost importance. Those would include Yelp and even the online Yellow Pages.

• Your also need to offer digital ads on a local level. Target is a prime example. When you live in Milwaukee and want to find something, you do a search for the item and it comes up with the places (and often prices) that a shopper can find it on a local level, and a store such as Target will tell you where its locations are in Milwaukee on the spot.

• Use media such as newspapers, magazines and broadcast media to make people aware of your products and services with their online presence. Banner ads on a media source’s website means all a shopper or potential client has to do is click on your banner and bam! That customer is sent to your website, and the rest is up to you once a visitor is there.

• A fast-moving trend involves the wearable device, such as phones that are worn like a watch and the new PULS from musician, producer and entrepreneur Will.i.am. With a voice command or touch, the user can access information literally in a heartbeat, so staying current with coupons and deals on a local level are going to become increasingly important.

• If you don’t want to budget in advertising on the pages of your area media, you can at least try to get involved with their social media. A lot of consumers use social media when making purchase decisions. If there is a story on your local NBC affiliate about the dangers of some pet foods, for example, you can hit the station’s Facebook page about your brand of dog food that features only veterinarian-approved ingredients.

• People are also moving toward using local media apps to pay their bills and conduct other financial transactions. It would be wise to look into including these services into your operation. For example, you can now take a picture of a check with your phone and it will be deposited to your bank. You can conduct business on the run with apps such as Square, which can run a financial transaction right through your phone.

It’s important to consider these trends when creating your local SEO and Internet marketing plan so that when people search for products and services they will get the most updated information on your business in literally an instant.